For Father Giles, who has lived as a Benedictine monk at Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland for nearly half a century, freedom is a concept defined by love and shaped by prayer. As he explains in this short documentary, through his practice of silent prayer, he has come to see freedom as the ability to detach from desires to possess and control that might otherwise dominate us – a perspective that contrasts sharply with the selfish view that freedom means being able to do whatever one wants. For Father Giles, this detachment is not about loss; rather, it clears the way for deeper, more fulfilling experiences. Pairing his words with a series of simple, elegant shots of his life in the monastery, the film forms a hushed yet powerful contemplation of what it truly means to be free.
Producers: Natasha Dack, Nikki Parrott
Website: Tigerlily Productions
video
History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
video
Wellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
Leading 1950s thinkers on the search for happiness in trying times
29 minutes
video
War and peace
Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines
22 minutes
video
Nature and landscape
California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker
10 minutes
video
Love and friendship
Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone
5 minutes
video
Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
15 minutes
video
Virtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
video
History of technology
Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966
6 minutes